The 7 best POS systems for bars and pubs
By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Be it a nightclub, wine bar, or gastropub serving food, you need a point of sale (POS) system that makes yours and your team’s lives easier and keeps your customers coming back for another round.
But which are the best POS systems for your bar or pub? And how do you decide between the many similar products that, nowadays, seem to do everything shy of making the drinks?
We’ve compared the features, fees, and functions of some of the top POS systems on the market to help you choose one that’ll set your bar up for success, whether you’re a cocktail king or a craft ale connoisseur.
Read on for our pick of the 7 best POS systems for bars and pubs.
You can jump straight to one of the providers below to learn more or keep reading to compare them all.
The 7 best POS systems for bars and pubs: A deep dive
>See also: Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best
Square
Pricing
Free: Free
Plus: £69 per month
Premium: Custom pricing
Features
- Conversational modifiers can speed up ordering
- Integrate with a variety of accounting and hospitality apps
- No refund or chargeback fees
- Organise reports by time of day, covers, and employees
- Email marketing and loyalty functions available
Square for Bars and Pubs says it is designed to help you and your staff get the most out of every shift.
A quick review of its features and functions shows that description to be pretty much spot on. Square makes it easy for busy bar staff to key in orders with ‘conversational modifiers’ such as ‘add’, ‘extra’, and ‘no’, and an intuitive order entry system to improve accuracy, and the payment processing is quick and easy: funds can be transferred to you as soon as the next day, and Square doesn’t charge refund or chargeback fees.
You can get a fairly comprehensive POS system on the free plan, but if you really want your bar to soar, you’ll want to move on to the Plus plan, which has more advanced features, though at £69 per month, is significantly more than many of other top POS systems.
That said, Square offers a customisable range of well-designed till and POS setups, with terminals, readers, registers, and printers to suit all requirements. For example, you can choose to run Square POS from your own tablet for £329 or get a Square Register Kit with no tablet needed for £839
Worldpay
Pricing
Lite: £49 per month
Standard: £74 per month
Pro: £89 per month
Features
- Real-time reporting and analytics
- No hidden fees
- Magic AI menu feature
- Create gift cards and loyalty program
- Pay-at-table functionality
- 365 customer support
Worldpay 360 POS, designed with the hospitality sector in mind, is an all-in-one business management and payments solution used by many small business owners.
The Lite package is £49 per month and includes a single hand-held device that provides business management and payment capabilities, complete with an in-built printer.
The Standard package is £74 per month. Alongside the hand-held device provided in the Lite package, the Standard package includes a countertop POS system (choose from a 10 or 15″ device).
The Pro package is £89 per month and includes the same features as Standard with additional integrated software.
Lightspeed
Pricing
Basic – £69 per month (features include stationary/tablet ePOS, 24/7 customer support, integrated partner network – including OpenTable – and reporting).
Core – £129 per month (Basic + QR code ordering & pay, advanced insights, gift cards to reward repeat customers. You will also be able to choose two of the three POS options: Stationary/tablet ePOS; Mobile ePOS; Kitchen display system.
Pro – £219 per month (Basic + Core features, alongside Click & Collect and Delivery, 3rd party online ordering integrations (e.g. UberEats), as well as choosing three of the POS options: Stationary/tablet ePOS; Mobile ePOS; Kitchen display system.
Features
- No set up cost or hidden fees
- Accepts credit, debit and mobile payments
- Simple bill splitting
- No monthly transaction limit
- Inventory management
- In-depth accounting tools to stay on top of bookkeeping
Customer support hours: Phone and dedicated instant messaging support 27/4. Call 0203 695 9599 or visit their website and click on the ‘Help’ section.
Lightspeed is a cloud-based EPOS system that you can access from an iPad or other device.
Lightspeed Payments, which accepts a range of credit, debit, and mobile payment options, makes this EPOS system a great option for busy bars. There are no monthly transaction limits, so you can process an unlimited volume of drinks orders, and the fast check out process reduces manual processes for quick customer turnover.
From within the system, you can manage everything from designing custom floor plans to creating menus and combos of items that are frequently ordered together. You also get a wealth of data on finances and employee performance that you can use to make strategic staffing decisions.
However, many of Lightspeed’s best features are available through third parties rather than in-built, meaning you may have to pay subscription costs. Also, if you’re using Lightspeed Payments, you also have no choice over the hardware you use – you have to purchase the Castles S1F2 payment terminal through Lightspeed in order to be compatible.
Epos Now
Pricing
Epos Now for pubs and bars: £25 per month
Features
- EPOS system, cash till, and printer included in price
- Real-time data to any of your devices
- Mobile ordering software for at-table service
- Integrations with more than 100 business tools
- Real-time inventory
Epos Now has a complete solution for bars and pubs that includes everything you need to manage your bar – EPOS system, cash till, and printer – for the very competitive price of £25 per month.
The hardware itself is robust, with a water-resistant touchscreen to protect it from clumsy customers or staff spillages. But it’s not all about hardware. You can manage everything from one hospitality platform, with real-time reporting data on sales, staff, and margins. Best of all, with advanced bar and pub stock control software, Epos Now claims it can track inventory right down to the last remaining millimetres of a bottle, so you can get an order in to your supplier with plenty of time to spare.
Epos Now’s Pro+ all in one EPOS and portable payments system is an invaluable tool if you have servers providing an at-table service. The device allows them to take orders and accept payments while on the move. And with payment authorisation, you can check whether a customer has sufficient funds before they open a tab.
Finally, Epos Now integrates with a dizzying 100+ business tools and apps that make the day-to-day running of your bar even easier.
TouchBistro
Pricing
TouchBistro POS: £56.78 per month (+hardware and additional fees)
Features
- Track guest spending and reward loyalty
- Integrations with a variety of bar inventory software
- Manage access by setting staff permissions
- Two tap fast bar order mode
- Reporting and analytics give insights into everything from sales by team member and drink popularity
Speed and convenience is the name of the game with TouchBistro’s Bar POS. Customers can pay in a variety of ways, and it’s easy to set up tabs, split bills and transfer tabs to different tables, while Fast Bar register mode allows you to take and close orders in just two taps.
We also like that it encourages upselling – you can set automatic prompts that alert your staff to relevant promotions and upgrades – and loyalty, by allowing you to track customer spending and reward your regular customers with special offers.
Lastly, TouchBistro has some excellent inbuilt analytics, with more than 50 reports that can offer crucial insights into your business, including daily and weekly revenue, and breakdowns by team member, product, menu category, and more.
And if you can’t find a crucial function, TouchBistro, integrates with a range of popular accounting, inventory management, payment processing, staff scheduling, and online ordering software, so you can build a setup that works for your business.
The main downside of TouchBistro is that, at nearly £60 per month, its starting price is significantly higher than rivals.
Zettle
Pricing
Zettle card reader: From £29
Full POS setup: From £149 (excluding VAT)
Features
- Specialist POS integrations
- Send remote payment links
- Send digital receipts and manage everything from the cloud
- Edit stock levels and add items within the app
- Daily reports on sales and staff performance
While Zettle hasn’t been designed as a specialist POS system for bars like some of our other providers, its simplicity, sleek design, and low fees make it a great option for smaller bars and pubs.
Using Bluetooth, you can set up Zettle within minutes and start selling instantly, and the intuitive POS app makes it easy for your staff to get up and running quickly. You can also have multiple accounts, which staff can switch to without logging out, while daily reports for each user allow you to continually monitor performance.
What we love about Zettle is how flexible it is. You don’t even have to use the Zettle POS system with its hardware. If you have an existing system or something more specialist POS, it’s easy to sync it with the Zettle card reader.
The hardware itself is sleeker and smaller than many legacy systems, with a range of ready-made and customisable POS setups in both black and white, so it’s easy to find a solution that fits your needs and budget.
Finally, Zettle accepts all major debit and credit cards, as well as Apple, Android, and Google Pay, so no customer needs to be turned away empty-handed.
Tabology
Pricing
Essentials: £39 per month
Pro Plan: £59 per month
Additional iPad licenses are £39 per month on either plan.
Features
- Stock tracking with recipe management and low stock alerts
- Built-in booking system, including auto-allocation, deposits and pre-orders
- Loyalty points system with digital loyalty cards and CRM for targeted marketing campaigns
- Email reports giving a snapshot of business performance
- Kitchen screen enabling order tracking and two-way messaging with front of house
Tabology offer a hospitality EPoS & management suite backed by a team with real-life hospitality experience. Tabology have a strong focus on customer service, which is reflected in their excellent Trustpilot rating.
The Essentials plan is £39 per month and includes an easy to use iPad-based EPoS with table plan, industry relevant reporting, full stock management capabilities and mobile ordering.
The Pro Plan is £59 per month and includes a built-in booking system, loyalty CRM, staff scheduling tools, and multi-site management.
Next steps
Still not sure which are the best POS systems for your bar? Why not use our free tools to compare top providers today.
All pricing information is accurate as of 21st June 2024.
The post The 7 best POS systems for bars and pubs appeared first on Small Business UK.
